Colorado · UplandGunnison sage-grouse

Gunnison sage-grouse has an unusually precise geography: it is a federally-threatened (ESA-listed 2014) species whose entire world range is seven small, named populations in southwestern Colorado plus one additional population near Monticello, Utah (out of scope for this Colorado-only record). CPW's own species page and the USFWS Final Recovery Plan for Gunnison Sage-Grouse (2020) agree exactly on the seven Colorado populations and their relative importance: the Gunnison Basin population (Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties) is overwhelmingly dominant, holding approximately 85% of all breeding birds and 65% of occupied habitat across roughly 592,000 acres, with high resiliency. The remaining 15% of individuals are spread across six much smaller satellite populations occupying the other 35% of occupied habitat, ranging from high-resiliency (San Miguel Basin, Pinon Mesa) through moderate (Cerro Summit-Cimarron-Sims Mesa, Crawford) to low resiliency and ongoing decline (Poncha Pass, Dove Creek). No Colorado hunting season exists for this species at all. It is not on CPW's regulated small-game-bird list, so every region below describes real, occupied conservation range rather than any hunted footprint.